Entries tagged with: MeanJeans

Kepi Ghoulie, frontman the now-defunct Lookout! Records punk vets Groovie Ghoulies, has been releasing music and touringsolo for years now, but he's been doing something different on his current tour. Last year, Kepi teamed up with newer garage punks Mean Jeans for an all Groovie Ghoulies set in Oakland, and now the two bands have turned it into a full tour that began last week. The shows have included Mean Jeans backing Kepi on a set of "the music of the Groovie Ghoulies and more" and then the 'Jeans play their own set. The tour rolls into NYC this weekend for a show on Saturday (11/29) at Grand Victory with support from locals Hector's Pets and Gozer. Tickets for Saturday's show are on sale now.

All remaining dates are listed, with a full set video of that Oakland show, below...

With his mask that is already all kinds of creepy (shades of Leatherface, no?), Nobunny seems born from a schlock horror movie. So it makes 100% sense for him to star in his own slasher flick, in this case an elongated video for his song "Nightmare Night" from last year's Secret Songs. Written and directed by Ardavon Fatehi and Jenny Messer, it's a well-shot, funny film that owes much to '80s horror (with a little Repo Man in there too) and features appearances by Colleen Green, as well as members of Mean Jeans. Just in time for Halloween, check it out below.

Circle Takes The Square returned in December, 2012 with Decompositions Volume Number One, their first album of new material since reuniting and second overall. It's not the instant masterpiece that their 2004 debut, As the Roots Undo, is, but it's still damn good. Download it in its entirety at bandcamp (name your price) or stream it in its entirety, along with the updated The Fest lineup, below.

Fullerton, CA record store/label/way-of-life Burger Records, who has somewhat cornered the market on low-fi, nasally, tongue-in-cheek powerpop/punk/garage, has been hosting Burgerama fests in California for a few years. But now they're taking the show on the road with the Burgerama Caravan of All-Stars, featuring The Growlers, Cosmonauts, Gap Dream, and Pangea. That tour includes a stop in NYC on October 5 at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets for that show are on sale now and all dates are listed below.

Many of the groups named above are featured on the label's new cassette compilation, Taste of Burger Records, which has a whopping 57 tracks. You can stream the whole thing below.

Burger's next two releases both come out on July 23. One is Love is the Law, the new album from Portland's The Memories whose folky pop is not that far from The Beets. You can stream a track off that below. The other is The Life and Times of a Paperclip, from SoCal duo The Garden and their drum-and-bass setup will probably appeal to fans of The Intelligence. You can check out the video to "I'm A Woman" below.

Fliers for Burgerama Caravan of All-Stars and Burger Boogaloo, plus the list of tour dates and streams, below...

So far both bands have limited tour dates to speak of, with Underground Railroad confirmed for June 8 at Ham & Eggs Tavern in Los Angeles and Mean Jeans readying a show on August 15 at Backspace in Portland, Oregon (supporting Dan Vapid of Screeching Weasel/Riverdales). Until then, get prepped for their next shows with the stream below.

The recently released The Thing That Ate Larry Livermore compilation release will be celebrated tonight (6/25) and tomorrow (6/26) at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn. The comp, out via Adeline Records (aka Billie Joe of Green Day's label), features sixteen bands in total. Larry Livermore, who co-founded Lookout! Records, compiled the album. Larry says:

When Billie Joe asked me to put together this compilation, my First reaction was to say, 'Absolutely not.' I was too busy with other projects, and besides, I'd been saying for years that I was done with the music business, that people should take me out and shoot me if I ever showed any sign of wanting to get back into it," said Livermore. "But then I realized that this was an opportunity to do for a whole new crop of bands what we'd been able to accomplish at Lookout back in the 80s and 90s, which was to bring exciting and passionate music to the attention of a public that might otherwise never get to hear it. Once I thought about it in that light, it was impossible to say no...

...I chose the bands using the same standards I used when I was at Lookout: I looked for those bands with a certain heart and soul that sets them apart from the literally thousands of run of the mill bands out there, the heart and soul that makes them capable of giving voice not just to their own ideals and visions, but to those of a generation.

Check out The Thing That Ate Larry Livermore cover art and tracklist at the bottom of this post. Ten of the bands on the comp will make an appearance at the Knit shows. The Copyrights, Dear Landlord, Night Birds, Dopamines, and Mean Jeans play tonight/Monday (tickets). Emily's Army, House Boat, Mixtapes, Lipstick Homicide, and City Mouse play tomorrow (tickets).

Mean Jeans is currently on tour supporting their recent Mean Jeans on Mars LP. The band swung through Cake Shop on June 20 alongside Hollywood, Liquor Store and Foster Care. Pictures of three of the four (we missed Hollywood) from that Manhattan show are below.

One of the most spirited crowds I experienced at this year's SXSW was during Mean Jeans' set at the Dirtnap Records showcase. The room was packed, the pit went half the way back and everyone in it seemed to know the words to every song. It was a super fun show.

The Portland party punks are currently on tour which slams into NYC tonight (6/20) at Cake Shop where they'll play with Liquor Store and Foster Care. If you can't make it tonight they also play June 25 at Knitting Factory with The Copyrights, Dear Landlord, The Nightbirds and Dopamines (tickets). The band are out supporting their new album, Mean Jeans on Mars, which rips through 13 snearing, uber-catchy punk anthems in about half an hour. You can download "Anybody Out There?" at the top of this post and watch the video below, along with a list of all tour dates.

The 2012 edition of MusicFestNWtakes place in September 5 - 9 at 18 venues in Portland, OR and will feature performances from over 150 bands, including Passion Pit, Hot Snakes, Girl Talk, Danny Brown, Beirut Silversun Pickups, Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh, many more.

In addition to those previously announced artists, MFNW has just added The Hives, Flying Lotus, Wild Nothing, DIIV, Quasi, Moon Duo, My Goodness, DZ Deathrays, and Strand Of Oaks to the already impressive line-up. Wristbands, available various levels and packages, and tickets to individual shows are on sale now. Check out the complete MFNW lineup below.

After Wednedsay and Thursday... I spent most of Friday afternoon -- the hottest day of the fest, well into the '80s --at Sailor Jerry-sponsored East Side dive Shangri La where Chicago label Trouble in Mind was throwing a party in the back yard. Their party at Scoot Inn the year before was one of my favorites of SXSW2010 and I'd have to say the same the same of 2011. The label, run by husband and wife Bill & Lisa Roe (who are also in CoCoComa), is mostly a 7" label, releasing great singles from some of the best garage-pop artists around. Many of whom were there at Shangri La.

I got there as Seattle trio Night Beats were just starting. Never heard them before, but really dug their psych-garage sounds, and they definitely looked the part. They ended their set with a cover of The Count Five's classic "Psychotic Reaction," giving their version a little swing which made it their own. Look for Night Beats debut LP out on Trouble in Mind this summer.

While Cheap Time were playing, I noticed Lars Finberg milling about the yard...what was he doing here? The Intelligence were definitely not here, was his side-project Puberty playing and I didn't know it? No, he told me he was playing drums for L.A.'s Wounded Lion for their Austin shows. I was already looking forward to seeing WL, now even moreso.

I was getting a little antsy and decided to walk around the East Side a bit, stopping by Cheer Up Charlies where I caught a few songs by Norway's Tôg (who are in NYC as we speak) before heading back to the Trouble in Mind party to catch Nashville's The Paperhead. Looking a bit like Red Kross, the band -- all about 19 I think -- are trippier than anyone else on the bill. Their debut just came out on TiM.

Next up Wounded Lion, whose self-titled debut was one of last year's more underrated records. I think seeing them live would change naysayers opinion, they were one of the rockin'est, most fun shows of the week. Two singers: main man Brad Eberhard does the heavy lifting and guitar playing, while singer/percussionist Raffi Kalenderian is more in the Bob Nastanovich of the band, going apeshit with the tambourine and generally keeping things entertaining. There is much switching of instruments. They also let Lars Finberg take lead vocals for the Intelligence's "Turned to Puke." I really thought they'd do "Pony People," a Wounded Lion song that The Intelligence covered on Fake Surfers, but no. Great, great set.

I then Sprinted over to the BrooklynVegan party at Swan Dive for John Grant. Friday was hot and Swan Dive didn't seem to have AC or even ceiling fans and it was an oven in there, but it didn't matter. Another of my favorite shows of the week. I'd seen him play solo at Mercury Lounge, but this show was with Midlake, his backing band on last year's amazing Queen of Denmark. With the band, Grant's late-'70s leaning epics came to lush life. The drums sounded gigantic. So did Grant's voice. All that was missing was sequined clothing and glasses that made points of light look like starbursts. Highlights for me: power-ballad "Mars" and "Chicken Bones" which is some kind of sonic collision of Gordon Lightfoot and Harry Nilsson.